5 of the Most Important Things about Cisco Ramon
by TheFreakWithTheWings
Summary: as he pertains to Laurel Lance.


1\. He makes her smile.

It's not that Laurel doesn't smile. She has many different smiles: triumphant grins when she defeats her enemies in the court or on the streets, an amused quirk when someone makes a joke, a smug smirk when she finally masters a move in training.

However, Cisco is the first one to pull a purely happy smile out of her since Sara died. Since the first time Sara died, if she's completely honest. For a while, it felt like she would never smile again, and that she would never wanted to. Tommy was good at making her smile, but then Ollie came back and there was so much drama.

When Sara came back, at first she was so bitter because Sara had been alive and they had mourned her and did she not even care? But she got over that, and she and Sara had been good, had been sisters again. And then Sara had died, and Laurel didn't know if she would ever truly smile again.

She sometimes smiles around Nyssa, but so much of what they do is centered around pain and violence. It feels cathartic sometimes, but other times it just hurts. Besides, the ghost of Sara hangs over them, even when they are laughing and joking, because they never would have met without her.

Cisco, though, Cisco makes her smile.

2\. He believes in her.

For a long time, no one believed that Laurel could be the Black Canary.

She knows Oliver still doubts, and he probably always will. Laurel isn't Sara, she never had the training that Sara got, but it is partly Oliver's fault too. He said that she couldn't join them because she didn't have any training, but then he refused to train her himself. Honestly, he had no one to blame but himself that she started going to Ted's gym. It wasn't like she was just going to use her training to be the Black Canary; it's dangerous to be a woman.

Roy Harper thought she was a joke the first time she went out with them, and he wasn't afraid to let her know it.

Diggle was worried about her safety, and she appreciates that, she does. But she needed to learn to fight, to defend, and he didn't think that it was her place to take up Sara's mantle. He didn't understand the burning need in her to be good enough, for her father, for the team, for the city.

Felicity worries. Laurel understands that. Most of the time though, it feels like the brunt of Felicity's worry is directed at her, and that stings. She feels like, of the vigilante group, she is the weakest link, and being the main receiver of Felicity's worry (unless Oliver is around) drives that in deep.

Cisco though, he doesn't critique her form, he doesn't tell her she's not good enough. He already knows that she is good enough, and that feels like validation.

3\. He thinks she is awesome.

Vigilantes don't get a lot of love in Starling city, not like the Flash in Central City. They have an on-again-off-again relationship with the police and the city officials. Most of the people in Starling are afraid of them because of the killing spree Oliver went on when he first became a vigilante.

And Laurel knows she's awesome, okay? She knows. She is a kickass ADA and the Black Canary. She fights for justice both in the courts and on the streets.

Still, having someone else acknowledge it is one of the best feelings in the world.

4\. He is incredibly smart.

Laurel is very smart; she wouldn't have gotten through law school if she wasn't. She wasn't Felicity-level genius, but she could hold her own.

Cisco was a genius though. He built her Canary Cry in a matter of hours which, if Laurel hadn't heard already how intelligent he was, would have blown her away.

He is nothing like any of her previous, billionaire boyfriends. Oliver dropped out of college four times, and Tommy wasn't much better. Sure, they had other redeeming qualities, but it wasn't until after Oliver dropped the playboy act that she realized that he actually had potential for intelligence and that he was pretty brilliant tactician and strategist.

It was good, though, that Cisco was different. Having a crush on him, liking him, felt like a whole new ball game from liking Ollie or Tommy.

For one, he understood her nerd references.

5\. He lives in Central City

There are times when Laurel can't stand Starling City. She gets tired of the constant crimes, the constant fighting. She hates sharing space with her dad because he still hasn't forgiven her for not telling him about Sara.

Cisco lives in Central City though, and they have an actual superhero to handle things, not a group of vigilantes who sometimes wonder if they are in over their heads.

So, a few days after Oliver and Felicity leave on their worldwide Tour of Adorableness, Laurel snaps. She can't take another minute in Starling.

She buys the first train ticket to Central, butterflies jostling in her stomach. She is nervous, but she is also excited.

She can't wait to see him.

A/N: I will post the sequel next week.


End file.
